'Honor 10' launched in London; Huawei eyes spot in top 3 in India

Honor, a smartphone brand of Huawei, is betting big on premium devices to strengthen its position in the hyper-competitive Indian smartphone market and secure a position in the top three by the end of the year, a company executive today said. The company, which has launched its flagship 'Honor 10' smartphone in London today, is adding features like AI-camera to offer a differentiated user experience to customers, Huawei Vice President P Sanjeev told PTI.

"The premium market (Rs 30,000 and above) is niche and consumers are very demanding, they want the best features and innovation... The segment may seem small (at about three per cent of the overall smartphone market), it is growing at a very strong pace," he said.

Sanjeev added that the company will continue to bring in devices across various price points, including premium segment as the company aims to be among the top three smartphone players in the country by the end of the year.

He cited a report by Counterpoint Research that said Honor had captured the fifth position "for the first time ever" in the Indian smartphone market. The report had attributed this to the "strong performance of Honor 9 Lite and Honor 7X across online channels".

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According to Counterpoint, Xiaomi led the tally with 31.1 per cent share of smartphone shipment, followed by Samsung (26.2 per cent), vivo (5.8 per cent), Oppo (5.6 per cent) and Honor (3.4 per cent) and others in the January-March 2018 quarter.

Honor 10 will be available in India from midnight of May 16 for Rs 32,999. It features a 5.84-inch display, 6GB RAM, 128GB memory, 24+16MP rear (dual) and 24MP front camera and 3,400 mAh battery.